Only a day after the mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School, another mad man went on a shooting spree, again armed with a so-called assault rifle (AK-47) and one of his victims was a child.
However, unlike the Connecticut shooting, this one has been completely ignored by the national media.

The shooting took place at a trailer park in Heflin, Ala., and left the shooter's three brothers dead. Those men were identified as Lorenzo Moya, 36; Miguel Moya, 23; and Ismael Moya, 17.
The shooter, Romero Roberto Moya, 33, also shot his 19-month-old son as well as a police officer, according to police.

Both of those victims required extensive surgery and are expected to make a full recovery.
Following the shootings, Moya led police on a 25-mile chase and was eventually was shot to death.
So, why has the press ignored this story?

Moya was a previously deported illegal alien.

In June 2011, Moya pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking and spent less than a year in prison for the charge.

HisiImmigration status and criminal history was intentionally omitted for days. I commented at the Anniston Star concerning the earlier news stories and questioned why his status was being ignored - my comment was scrubbed.

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Anniston Star-Dec 18, 2012
As the case of Romero Roberto Moya illustrates, our leaders are falling down on ... On Saturday, Moya shot and killed three of his brothers in a ...

For almost two years, this space has criticized Alabama’s misplaced attempts at making life hard for illegal immigrants in this state. The state’s HB56 squanders scarce resources, legalizes bigotry, drags the state’s reputation through the mud and involves state government in an arena where it has few duties.

On the last point, the chore of border enforcement primarily belongs to the federal government. The feds guard the nation’s international borders. Federal agencies are charged with rounding up those in the nation illegally. Their duties and the money to do them are the responsibility of Washington’s leaders, who set policy and fund budgets.

As the case of Romero Roberto Moya illustrates, our leaders are falling down on the job.

On Saturday, Moya shot and killed three of his brothers in a Cleburne County trailer park, according to authorities. He also shot his 19-month-old son, who is hospitalized in Atlanta, and a Heflin police officer, who is recovering from his wounds.

Moya led authorities on a car chase through Cleburne and Calhoun counties, endangering the lives of countless people. The chase and Moya’s life ended when police shot and killed the man in the Coldwater community west of Oxford.

Eight months earlier, Moya completed a one-year sentence on a cocaine-trafficking charge and was promptly deported to Mexico by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Bryan Cox, an ICE public affairs officer, told The Star Monday that Moya “came back to the country illegally” sometime between April and this month.

Finger-pointing in this deadly case is not productive. Neither is producing overheated stereotypes. As we’ve witnessed so recently, the nation has its own share of homegrown killers. It’s a mistake to assume all illegal immigrants are prone to the sort of violence Moya inflicted. In fact, the evidence points to the exact opposite — most of the nation’s undocumented residents work hard, lead quiet lives and follow local and state laws.

However, Moya’s case is one example of a larger problem. With a porous southern U.S. border, it’s difficult to prevent violent criminals from entering the country. President Barack Obama was correct earlier this year when he directed immigration authorities to stop hunting down law-abiding young illegal immigrants who came to the nation as small children. At least in theory, that move should allow ICE officials to concentrate on catching and deporting illegal immigrants like Moya, felons who are a danger to society.

Of course, Moya was deported. Yet, he found a way back to Alabama, meaning that more work remains to better secure U.S. borders.

The ultimate responsibility for this falls to the president and Congress. Workable answers to this problem have been kept down by partisan in-fighting. Romero Roberto Moya’s list of victims reminds us that Washington’s stalemate is getting us nowhere.

Stephen Miller · SubscribeIt's been said many times, but States like Alabama and Arizona took the steps that they did to deal with the illegal immigration problem because the federal government wasn't doing its job. But instead of raising an outcry over the fact that the federal government was completely failing us and instead of trying to keep this issue present in our national discourse during the last four years, liberal media outlets such as the Anniston Star sought to castigate the states that were trying to address the problem. The people that were actually trying to do something to address the problem were portrayed as villains by the Anniston Star. Now maybe the legislation enacted by the states wasn't absolutely perfect, but it certainly didn't "legalize bigotry" as the Star suggests and there's absolutely no reason why we as a country should be asked to accept the misguided notion that its ok to allow massive amounts of illegal immigration just because the majority of illegals don't kill us (what an absurd notion that is!). I agree with your post, David, in that this editorial highlights the hypocrisy and liberal bias of the Anniston Star - they didn't speak out in favor of greater border security for nearly four years of Obama's administration and actually vilified those who championed the cause (because reducing illegal immigration wasn't an issue favorable to Obama's reelection), but now that people have been murdered they want to act as though they're concerned about border security. This is why most people don't take the Anniston Star's editorials very seriously and why the Anniston Star doesn't wield as much influence as it thinks.

Billie Barnwell · Top CommenterNo doubt the borders need to be secure but this doesn't appear to be a border problem unless he was illegal when he was busted with cocaine,meth & a gun. This guy should still be in prison for 15-20 more years in Alabama for those crimes. A judge & prosecutor here in Calhoun county made that deal. Why doesn't the AS report on that?